Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Jonathan Grimwood

The Last Banquet

Cover: The Last Banquet - Jonathan Grimwood

Jonathan Grimwood

The Last Banquet

2014, pp. 336, Paperback
ISBN: 9781609452315
Region: Britain
$ 16.00
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW

The book

Set against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, the delectable decadence of Versailles, and the French Revolution, The Last Banquet is the epic tale of one man’s quest to know the world through its many and marvelous flavors. Jean-Marie d’Aumout will try anything once, with consequences that are at times mouthwatering and at others fascinatingly macabre (Three Snake Bouillabaisse anyone? Or perhaps some pickled Wolf's Heart?). When he is not obsessively searching for a new taste d’Aumout is a fast friend, a loving husband, a doting father, and an imaginative lover. He befriends Ben Franklin, corresponds with the Marquis de Sade and Voltaire, becomes a favorite at Versailles, thwarts a peasant uprising, improves upon traditional French methods of contraception, plays an instrumental role in the Corsican War of Independence, and constructs France’s finest menagerie. But d’Aumout’s every adventurous turn is decided by his at times dark obsession to know all the world’s flavors before that world changes irreversibly. As gripping as Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, as gloriously ambitious as Daniel Kehlman’s Measuring the World, and as prize-worthy as Andrew Miller’s Pure, The Last Banquet is a hugely appealing novel about food and flavor, about the Age of Reason and the ages of man, and our obsessions and about how, if we manage to survive them, they can bequeath us wisdom and consolation in old age.

The author

Jonathan Grimwood
Jonathan Grimwood has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and The Independent and numerous other magazines and newspapers. The Last Banquet is his first work of literary fiction. He divides his time between London and Winchester.

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: My Father’s House - Joseph O’Connor

    Joseph O’Connor

    My Father’s House

    2024, pp. 368, $ 18.95
    From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay, comes...
  • Cover: I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning - Keiran Goddard

    Keiran Goddard

    I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

    2024, pp. 208, $ 27.00
    Told from the alternating perspectives of five friends who grew up together on the same council estate, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning...
  • Cover: The Fair Folk - Su Bristow

    Su Bristow

    The Fair Folk

    2024, pp. 400, $ 18.00
    From prize-winning author Su Bristow comes a fascinating coming-of-age novel about magic and the choices that define future generations.
  • Cover: Bournville - Jonathan Coe

    Jonathan Coe

    Bournville

    2023, pp. 400, $ 28.00
    A tender and wickedly funny portrait of England told through four generations of one family.
  • Cover: Mr. Wilder and Me - Jonathan Coe

    Jonathan Coe

    Mr. Wilder and Me

    2023, pp. 256, $ 16.95
    A New York Times Editors’ Choice FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE ROTTERS’ CLUB AND MIDDLE ENGLAND...
  • Cover: Hourglass - Keiran Goddard

    Keiran Goddard

    Hourglass

    2023, pp. 208, $ 25.00
    A short, lyrical debut novel about love, loss, work, time, and the unquenchable desire for connection with others—for fans of Jenny Offill, Mieko...

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X